Things that make us blush

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 8:25 AM

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The average person embarrasses themselves four times a day, as forgetting people's names, tripping over in public and getting food stuck in your teeth have been voted amongst the most common faux pas which leave us red-faced and heading for the nearest exit.

While our own homes, shopping trips and the pub see us embarrassing ourselves regularly.

The research, which was commissioned by Ladbrokes UK, also found sweat patches, someone trying to get in the bathroom when you’re occupying it and accidentally waving at a stranger as common gaffes that get us cringing.

"Everyone does their best to be composed and cool wherever they are, but it isn’t always going to work and clearly there are many pitfalls," a spokesman for Ladbrokes said.

"The good thing is once the awkwardness clears the little things that throw us can eventually be looked back on and laughed about."

Swallowing food the wrong way, running after public transport and it pulling away on you and battling with a supermarket self-service checkout also made the list of our biggest embarrassments.

Many of us have also accidentally "liked" a Facebook picture of someone we fancied or whose profile we really shouldn't have been looking at.

Snoring while on a train, getting stuck in a revolving door or accidentally calling someone "Mum" also featured in the top 50.

One in seven said they have been so embarrassed they've even fled the room to avoid the stares.

A fifth of respondents have a public speaking nightmare that they'd rather forget – the biggest speaking blunder was having your voice break or squeak high-pitched unexpectedly.

The biggest embarrassments were most likely to have been work related for the majority of people, while stories involving things going wrong in front of the in-laws were also very common.

One in seven said a relationship ended largely because something embarrassing happened.

Approaches vary when it comes to being embarrassed, as a third said their response is to "want to disappear" while over half say their natural reaction is to try and laugh it off.

"The good thing about this list is no one is immune and we're all guilty of having done at least some of these things," continued the spokesperson for Ladbrokes.

"Certain situations have more potential for embarrassment than others of course but the thing to take remember from all of it is there’s no point taking yourself too seriously."